


You Are The Proof

by her0esneverdie



Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Dead Parents, F/F, Kinda Fluffy, One Shot, Romance, just a dragon lady and a centuries old vampire what could happen, that gay shit, vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-01 21:55:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15782871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/her0esneverdie/pseuds/her0esneverdie
Summary: me: i should finish my two unfinished fics i haven’t updated in agesalso me: ha skyrim gay———————————serana and kari the dragonborn tear open a portal to the soul cairn, but it doesn’t seem like the living can enter...





	You Are The Proof

“She actually did it... Created a portal to the Soul Cairn. Incredible.”  
Serana’s voice rose only slightly over the overwhelming sound of reality being ripped in two.  
Kari watched as stone ground against stone, shifting into stairs, leading the way to an abyss absolutely dripping with malice. Wispy souls curved around the edges of the pit before dissipating into the living air of Tamriel. Whispered and desperate cries for help gurgled from below. Below was the tortured and terrifying world of the damned. Below was the hell no person had lived to escape from. Below was the greatest test of wills any person could face.  
Below was the realm of the Ideal Masters.

Serana tore her eyes away from the portal, looking to Kari and preparing herself for the gauntlet to come. The Dragonborn’s fawn hair shifted away from her face at the empty breeze of the Soul Cairn, revealing her blue eyes, shaken and yet steeled. Her jaw was set, one pale hand hovering over her shortsword. She was clearly nervous, and yet she knew what had to be done. Serana took a deep, shaky breath, and then turned back to the portal.  
“You lead the way, and I’ll follow right behind.”  
Kari nodded grimly, and took the first step downward.

Despite hovering in the air, the step felt solid as if grounded.  
Another step.  
The echoed screams grew louder.  
Another few steps, quicker now.  
The purple divide stood right before her.  
She took a quick breath, and then stepped forward.  
As soon as her foot made contact with the border, the empty souls of the Soul Cairn began screeching. Blistering pain split through the Dragonborn, as she felt the portal drain her very being away. She stifled a scream, but as the pain spread to her chest, she couldn’t hold it back any longer. Then, a hand at her shoulder, and she was back at the top of the steps.  
“Are you alright? That sounded painful..” Serana panted, kneeling over the prone woman.  
Kari’s eyes fluttered open, seeing the concern in the vampire’s eyes, the warmth of her being so close.  
“It-it was. What just happened?” She stuttered, pulling herself to a sitting position, leaning up against the stone railing. Serana sighed in relief and sat herself besides Kari.  
“Now that I think about it, I probably should have expected that.. I’m sorry, Kari.”  
Kari pulled a small red bottle from her pouch and began to take sips of it slowly. She turned her head to Serana, exhausted but listening intently. Her sunny freckle-kissed face looked drained and pale. Serana couldn’t help but feel responsible.  
“It’s hard to describe. The Soul Cairn was.. well, hungry, for lack of a better word. It was trying to steal your life essence.”  
Kari took another small sip from her bottle before turning her body fully to face Serana.  
“Is there any way we could bypass that?” She tapped her fingers on the bottle absentmindedly.  
Serana quirked her head to the side, thinking.  
“I guess.. We could split your soul in half, give one half to the Ideal Masters as an offering, and take the other half of you in with us. We could snag the half we gave to them on our way back out. Maybe.”  
Kari grimaced. “After everything we’ve read and heard about the Ideal Masters? If they get hold of my soul I’ll never get it back.”  
“I know. I’m kind of grasping at straws here.” Serana sighed.  
Kari bit her lip, nervously spinning the bottle in her hand.  
“So.. there’s no way for me to get in, then?”  
Serana looked to her flush cheeks, to her freckled face, and finally to her sun-tanned arms. She sighed.  
“There might be, but you’re not going to like it.”  
Kari regarded her curiously. Serana took a heavy breath before continuing.  
“Vampires aren’t technically counted among the living. I could go in without a problem-”  
“You’re not suggesting I let you go in there alone?” Kari interjected protectively. Serana smiled a bit at her passion, but shook her head remorsefully.  
“I’m suggesting, if you were a vampire you could enter with me.”

Kari didn’t respond.

“I know it’s not exactly your first choice, being a Dawnguard..”  
“Don’t-“ Kari choked on her words.  
“Dont say that. You know I’m not like the rest of them.”  
It was true. Serana had seen Kari spare more than a handful of vampires that fell under her blade on their journey. Time and time again, she had made it clear that she wasn’t against vampires as a species in the way the Dawnguard was. It was the murder for blood that she found deplorable. There were those who would give blood willingly as long as they were cured afterward, not to mention livestock who were immune, and yet many chose to end the lives of the innocent. She fought those who would kill, but would spare those of good heart. Serana had always admired that about her, and not just because that had saved her from death at the hands of the Dawnguard. 

Kari’s face was stony and cold. Her hands were trembling slightly.  
“I wish there was some other wa-“  
“When I was younger,” Kari began suddenly,  
“My mother and I used to leave our village and play with our family dog in the nearby field.”  
Her gaze stayed focused forward.  
“We would play fetch, wrestle, read, watch the wildlife..”  
She paused for a moment.  
“Feel the sun on our skin.”  
She dropped her red bottle and let the sounds of twinkling glass fill the air as it rolled around the stone floor.  
“My mother passed away from an illness when I was seventeen. From then on, wherever I went, when I felt the sun on my back…”  
She let her eyes drift shut.  
“It felt like she was there. Supporting me.”

For a moment, the only noise in the room was the absent swirling of the Soul Cairn.

Serana found herself struggling for words.  
“She would have been proud of you.” She laid her hand on Kari’s shoulder.  
“I know.” She smiled wistfully, before reaching up and placing her own hand over Serana’s.  
“She would have loved you.” Kari chuckled.

Kari gasped in a small voice, and Serana realized she had been crying. Tears rolled off her cheeks silently as she heaved with shuddering, sporadic breaths.  
“I’ll never feel her watching me again, will I?”  
Serana pulled her hand from Kari and moved close, until they were shoulder to shoulder. She clasped Kari’s hand in her own, and ran her thumb up and down the back of her hand.  
Kari drifted toward her, and laid her head on Serana’s shoulder.

They stayed like that for a while, embracing each other’s warmth, before Serana spoke in a soft, quiet voice.  
“You don’t need the sun to tell you that she loved you.”  
Kari lifted her head from Serana’s shoulder, and turned to be eye-to-eye with her.  
“Her love shines through in every way that she raised you.”  
Serana gently cupped Kari’s face in her free hand, wiping away a tear with her thumb.  
“ _You_ are the proof that she loved you.”

Kari looked in her deep yellow eyes for a moment, feeling like the world had stopped around her. Then, in an instant, her lips were on Serana’s.

All of Serana’s thoughts were swept to the wind. And then, there was nothing.  
Nothing, except for her. Everything about her. Her full lips, her soft touch- Through her, Serana felt the glow of the sun in a way she hadn’t felt in centuries. There was no sting, no burn, just.. Warmth.

Kari pulled away, slowly, but kept their hands entwined.  
She let out a short sigh before looking at Serana again.  
“Promise you wont leave me behind after we finish this whole thing?”  
Serana squeezed her hand.  
“Of course not.”  
Kari smiled and closed her eyes.  
“I’m ready, then.”


End file.
